Celebrities' Most Prized Possessions

Patricia Arquette

Wrapped in a black coat with fluffy rings of flounce, actress Patricia Arquette looked like she’d stepped off the set of Anna Karenina as she arrived at the Art of Elysium Heaven gala in downtown Los Angeles. “I’ve gone through a lot of different collections,” said Arquette. “Napoleonic miniatures, jail art. But I really like miniature portraits—the tiny Victorian eye portraits of your lover. Just the eye. Pretty sexy, right?”

Photo: Andreas Branch/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Daniel Day-Lewis

One might assume that Daniel Day-Lewis, whose father, Cecil Day-Lewis, was the poet laureate of England and who is married to Arthur Miller’s daughter, Rebecca, might have inherited a trove of literary heirlooms. But the actor, who notched another Oscar for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, claimed not to be acquisitive—except as regards the books he uses to prepare for his roles. “I am not a collector in the general sense; I don’t really like the feeling of collecting things,” he answered. “But I have collections of research books that I have needed over the years,” he explained. “I never wish to get rid of them. It’s unlikely I’ll read many of them ever again, but they are a kind of talisman, I suppose.”

Photo: Andreas Branch/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman

Attending the Producers Guild of America Awards at the Beverly Hilton, Weinstein company cofounder Harvey Weinstein, seen here with his wife, Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman, was all smiles. “I love photographs. And I love [Alfred] Eisenstaedt photographs in particular. They’re cinema, but still.”

Weinstein and Chapman at the Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit: A Tribute to Quentin Tarantino

Photo: Jimi Celeste/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Julia Stiles

Some treasures, though not necessarily valuable, remind one of a special moment in life. Actress Julia Stiles, also at the Producers Guild of America Awards, told AD that she prizes a sketch by French fashion photographer Gilles Bensimon. “We did a photo shoot in Venice a long time ago,” she said. “And he did a sketch on this tablecloth and I framed it.”

Photo: Andreas Branch/PatrickMcMullan.com

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David O. Russell

As usual, David O. Russell, the director of Silver Linings Playbook, was wearing a snappy suit and sneakers on his way into the Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts (AACTA) International Awards. “A T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings table,” he said, speaking of the Brit-born architect and midcentury-modern furniture designer who lived until 1976. “It’s the only fancy piece of furniture that I own, but it’s a very beautiful table. I tried to bleach one panel lighter. And then I figured out that that didn’t work so well, so I had it restored back to the original.”

Photo: Andreas Branch/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones

At the Cinema Society premiere of Side Effects in New York, AD spoke with actor Michael Douglas, there to support his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, who plays a psychiatrist in the film. “Treasure? I have an old collection of original Fillmore West [the famed San Francisco rock venue] signed posters from the ’60s,” he explained.

Channing Tatum

After throwing back a shot during the Side Effects after party, actor Channing Tatum revealed, “I love anything that’s been refurbished or restored. When you use your imagination, dream, and take something vintage—or an antique—and make it into something new.”

Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Kate Mara

Actress Kate Mara, at the Side Effects premiere to support her sister, Rooney Mara, the film’s star, said that she had recently bought an antique mannequin. “She’s a little girl mannequin, maybe from the 1920s, and she’s got no head,” she said. “It’s on this amazing metal stand. I have it in the living room, and it looks as if it is haunted.”

Photo: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Karl Lagerfeld and Linda Evangelista

“My favorite collection I have is always the next one,” answered the ever-quotable designer Karl Lagerfeld, seen here with supermodel Linda Evangelista, at the Museum of Modern Art for a Chanel tribute to Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar.

Photo: Leandro Justen/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Judd Apatow

Comedy collectibles naturally appeal to produces and director Judd Apatow (This Is 40). At the premiere of HBO’s Girls, Apatow, who produced the series, mentioned that he has amassed an important collection of signed memorabilia. “I have a lot of autographs of the Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin,” he said. “I bought some letters that W. C. Fields wrote that are hilarious. I really like letters from comedians of the ’30s.”

Apatow at MusiCares’ Person of The Year event

Photo: Andreas Branch/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Amber Valletta

It’s one thing to own a photograph by Irving Penn, and quite another if you’re also in it. During cocktails at the Beverly Hilton Hotel before the Costume Designers Guild Awards in Los Angeles, supermodel and actress Amber Valletta noted that she treasures a portrait Penn made of her. “He shot me a few times for American Vogue, and after a big exhibit of his work, he gave me one,” she said. “It’s a nude.”

Valletta at the 5th annual Rock the Kasbah event

Photo: Andreas Branch/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Morena Baccarin

On the red carpet at the SAG Awards, Homeland’s Morena Baccarin mentioned that it isn’t what she’s collected in her house, but the house itself that is a gem. “It was built in 1935 by the architect Winston Risley,” she said. “It’s architecturally perfect—the way the sun hits it, and the shapes of the rooms.”

Baccarin at the Elle Women in Television celebration

Photo: Andreas Branch/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Julia Jones

Apparently, not all Rothkos hang in museums or the homes of finance titans. Twilight star Julia Jones—shape-shifting wolf Leah Clearwater in the saga—managed to acquire one at an astonishingly young age. “I have a numbered print,” she revealed during a Chris Benz fashion presentation. “It was in my house growing up, and my mom gave it to me. When I went to get it framed, the guy asked, ‘Where did you find this?’”

Jones at the premiere of the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II

Photo: Andreas Branch/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Kelly Lynch

During a breezy tented lunch on the beach in Santa Monica for the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Kelly Lynch mentioned her Russel Wright Iroquois dishes, which Andy Warhol also collected. “I also have a signed Richard Neutra dining room table and ten chairs, which are impossible to find these days.”

Photo: Andreas Branch/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Lena Dunham

In her spare time, Lena Dunham, who created and stars in HBO’s Girls, collects hotel pens. “I feel they make me look well traveled,” she says. “And there is an old-Hollywood glamour to hotel pens. My Chateau Marmont pens are pretty neat. And I was staying at a hotel in Berlin that was unacceptable to me, so I went over to the Hotel Adlon to get their pen.”

Photo: Sylvain Gaboury/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Blythe Danner and Gwyneth Paltrow

During a Women in Film (WIF) pre-Oscar fête honoring Gwyneth Paltrow, the actress’s mother, Blythe Danner, a treasure herself, was wearing silver earrings hand-hammered by Georg Jensen. “My husband had bought me several wonderful pieces from 1912 and ’14,” she said. “And I cherish those. One day I would like to have one of his candlesticks with the grape pattern.” Holiday gift suggestion: Gwyneth, Jake?

Danner and Paltrow at Baby Buggy’s Summer Benefit

Photo: Fairchild Archive

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David Rockwell

Architect, designer, and founder of the Rockwell Group, David Rockwell, favors his collection of kaleidoscopes. “I have one from the ’20s that has opals in it, and oil,” he told AD at a Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) Dining by Design event in Manhattan. “And when I get really depressed, I just watch those opals spin around in the oil.”

Photo: Rockwell Group/Blandon Belushin

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Alexander Payne

Film director Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt, The Descendants) explained during the Directors Guild Awards that he scours eBay for postcards from Omaha and 16-millimeter films. “I have home movies, educational films, feature films, animated shorts,” he said. “There are a lot of orphan films out there, and I love watching them on film. I don’t have a 35-mm projector at my house, only 16-mm.”

Payne at the Ace Eddie Awards

Photo: Mike Gardner/PatrickMcMullan.com

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Sir Elton John

At Sting’s Rainforest Foundation benefit concert, Sir Elton John, wearing raspberry metallic shoes by Patrick Cox, explained: “I’ve been an avid collector for years, but I sold everything in the late ’80s, and so I’ve been collecting completely different things, like photography. That’s now my favorite thing that we collect.”

Goldie Hawn

At the Plaza Hotel to receive an award from Turnaround for Children, a foundation that strives to improve the conditions in public schools, iconic blond Goldie Hawn, declined to respond. “You know what? I’m not going to answer that question,” she demurred. “Treasures can be stolen. . . . ”